Sunday, 13 April 2014

All I Want For Christmas is a Beatle - Dora Bryan

No wonder we haven't been getting
Posts out on time, what a weekend! Again, the Moth Man (Dave Foot)
Cometh and apart from catching some quality Moths, along with a few
interesting creepy crawlies, we enjoyed the hospitality here at Harbins
Farm House including some 'fine wine' and even better victuals. During
this short visit Dave wanted to concentrate on the northern side of the
farm amid Silver Birch, Oak, Sallow a few Scots Pines and a couple of
small areas of Aspen all on boggy soil. The latter is where
Lead-coloured Drab and Light Orange Underwing exist while in the Birch's
Orange Underwing is a likely capture. My 3 traps were set, as usual,
in the locality of the farm house and farm yard, while Dave activated
his 3 as described above. There was plenty of daylight left so not only a
chance later of the night-time fliers, but now some of the diurnal
Moths and birds as well. Along with Linnet, Stonechat and Dartford
Warbler, all engaged in nest building, we quickly found a couple of

TREE PIPIT*

mostly flying over the heath but spending some time perched

a new bird for the year.

then, quite unexpected for me at least, a fly-by

LESSER REDPOLL

not often seen on the property.

It was Dave who heard the call of a

GREEN SANDPIPER

and as twilight arrived the Sonar like 'ping' and some grunting from a

WOODCOCK

This line drawing and the images above are from Wiki simply for illustration.

Another conundrum was solved by our friend John Gifford yesterday as growing on Parley Court Farm,

WESTERN GORSE

something to do with the hairs inside the flower

separates this species from Common Gorse.

The scene at 07:00 yesterday morning as low lying mist was seen,
from Parley Court Farm across the Heathland to the north.

SCALLOPED HOOK-TIP
first for the year was an early find followed by

Two examples of 'green hue'

EARLY TOOTHED-STRIPED

Very local and confined to Aspen Trees

LIGHT ORANGE UNDERWING
(lower image from Wiki, as this little rascal just would not show any orange)

Our best photo so far of

PURPLE THORN

RINGED CARPET
something of a scarcity.

ENGRAILED

2 examples of

BRINDLED BEAUTY

dark and light morphs

COMMON HEATH

a 'daytime flyer'.

KNOT GRASS

PALE PINION

another variation of

BROWN-LIPPED SNAIL

COMMON STORKSBILL

GREEN TIGER BEETLE

DOR BEETLE

c7 of the 13 BRINDLED BEAUTY caught,

in company with Nut-tree Tussock (top) and Satellite (directly below).

GREEN ALCANET

The COCOON of a Psychid Moth (Micro)

Thought to be the Larva of the Brown-tailed Moth in their tented cocoon.

My attention was drawn to the livery on the closest aircraft from

HUNGARIAN AIRLINES

DARTFORD WARBLER

OK, distant but displaying and carrying nesting material!

That's a WOW!

COMMA BUTTERFLY

SPECKLED WOOD BUTTERFLY

Thought to be the Larva of the CLAY (Moth).

On the face of it, just a small stand of

SILVER BIRCH

but closer inspection revelled 2 distinct and tiny holes though to have been excavated by

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About Me

Born Beeston, Notts 1946, my family moved to Dorset 1959. Joined the Royal Navy age 15 years and 50 days serving 10 years. In frigates firstly then over 5 years in Submarines as a Seaman/Diver, reaching the dizzy heights of Leading Seaman before leaving to join the Merchant Service, working in Ocean Salvage and Harbour Tugs, passenger / cargo ships, trials vessels, etc. Qualified as Mate (Chief Officer) in 1976 and as Master (Captain) in 1978. For my final 20 years of 47 I worked in the Offshore Oil Industry initially on the drilling rig Stena Hunter, then the accommodation barge Borgland Dolphin and finally the Floating Production Platform Buchan Alpha. On the rigs I forged a number of long lasting friendships several of whom shared some of my extensive travels. Setting foot on Caymen, Bermuda, Bahamas and The Azores in March 2013 brought my countries total to 147. The best, undoubtedly, was Antarctica, followed by Australia, Mongolia, Belize, Zimbabwe, China and Madagascar, in no particular order. As for my greatest achievement in life, my 2 beautiful daughters bear witness to that. Love to all our readers, your in my thoughts. Bagsy